How to Calculate Fastball Reaction Time
Fastballs, whether thrown in baseball or softball, are difficult to hit because of the speed at which the ball is moving. Anyone with a slow reaction time will not hit the fastball and will end up missing. Calculating the speed of a fastball is simple, but when calculating the reaction time of the batter, the calculation is just a little more difficult.
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Instructions
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Hit the fastball. Calculating the speed of reaction time requires finding out the speed at which the batter can hit the fastball. Adjust the speed of the pitch until the batter can hit it, if necessary.
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Calculate the speed of the fastball in feet. Find the miles per hour of the throw using a radar gun. Multiply the number in the radar gun by the number of feet in a mile divided by the number of seconds in an hour. If the miles per hour is 90, then the calculation set up is 90(5280/3600) and 132 feet per second is the ultimate result.
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Subtract the pitcher's stride from the distance between the pitcher and the batter. In major league, the stride is typically around 5 to 6 feet or so. The distance originally is 60.5 feet, but when the stride is subtracted it usually ends up being a smaller actual distance, such as 53.5 or 54.5 feet instead.
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Divide the actual distance from the pitcher and batter by the feet per second of the throw. So, if the actual distance is 54.5 feet, the result is 0.413 and the batter has a reaction time of 0.413 seconds.
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References
- Photo Credit Eight year-old boy holding a baseball bat. image by Lisa Eastman from Fotolia.com
